A global shortage of H1N1 flu vaccine has pushed back by several weeks county plans to hold mass immunizations in school districts throughout the county.

But the program should begin in some locations on Nov. 23, said Dr. Maxwell Ohikhuare, county health officer.

Earlier this year, Ohikhuare asked each school district to provide two locations where county health workers could run the mass immunizations for students, their family members and people in the area surrounded by the school.

“Most schools have tentative dates,” Ohikhuare said Tuesday.

The roll-out will be very aggressive, Ohikhaure said, noting that a contract is about to be signed that would bring in additional people to help administer the vaccine.

County officials hope there will be enough vaccine available to sustain the program once it starts.

The H1N1 vaccine in the injectable form “has been trickling down, a little bit at a time,” Ohikhuare said.

This Saturday, for the third weekend in a row, county health department offices in Ontario, 1647 Holt Ave. and San Bernardino, 799 E. Rialto Ave., will hold clinics, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., for free distribution of the H1N1 vaccine in both the nasal spray form, which is a live virus and the injectable form, which is a dead virus.

The live virus is recommended for healthy children ages 2-18 and healthy household members ages 2-49 who live with children 6 months old or younger.

The injectable vaccine is appropriate for pregnant women and people with chronic health conditions, such as asthma or diabetes.

A clinic will also be held at the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds in Victorville on Nov. 17.

Several hospitals in the area received their first supplies of H1N1 vaccine late last week and are immunizing employees this week.

Others have yet to receive the vaccine.

For at least one school district, the delay in immunizations caused by the short supply of vaccine is a month.

Redlands Unified School District at one point thought the immunization program would start today.. That date has been revised to Dec. 11, said Sherryl Avitabile, assistant superintendent.

Many school districts will hold a second immunization clinic in December or January because children ages nine and under need two immunizations for protection against influenza viruses.

Dr. Sohan Bassi, an infectious disease specialist on the staff of Upland’s San Antonio Community Hospital, said that it is “well worth it” to stand in line Saturday to get the H1N1 immunizations.

It takes 10 to 14 days after receiving the vaccine to reach peak immunity, he said.

Those who cannot visit county clinics should get the vaccine as soon as it’s available to them – even if it is in January.

“This virus was around last summer. We don’t know when it will end. It might hang around next summer,” he said.

It might not end until most people have either had the vaccine or had the virus, he said.

The first Saturday H1N1 clinic, on Oct. 31, drew 5,000 people from combined locations in Hesperia, San Bernardino and Ontario.

The second one, last Saturday, drew 2,500.

Jorge Valencia, spokesman for Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, said the county hospital saw a peak in flu-like cases about eight days ago and, recently, emergency room visits have dropped down to more normal levels.

Avitabile, of Redlands schools, said absenteeism in that school district is about normal for this time of year, though students are staying out longer.

H1N1 flu vaccine clinic

The swine flu vaccine will be distributed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the following county clinics: